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The allegedly illegal online gaming company behind a Markham Super Bowl party that was raided Sunday forked over $2 million to botched Mob hit victim Louise Russo, a source says.

Six men with suspected ties to Platinum Sports face charges after hundreds of officers swarmed the packed Le Parc Banquet Hall during the first quarter of the big game.

And at least two of the accused are believed to be Hells Angels.

“We have … restrained the Platinum Sports website, which is an offshore Internet-based website allegedly run by (a) criminal group with ties to organized crime,” RCMP Acting Supt. Keith Finn said at a press conference Monday.

He said the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit was investigating Platinum Sports for several years before officers from various police services executed search warrants at the banquet hall on Leslie St., near Hwy. 7, and nine other businesses and residences in the GTA and London, Ont.

Members of traditional organized crime groups as well as the Hells Angels were allegedly among the 2,300 people at the Super Bowl party. All but the six arrested by police were allowed to leave without charges.

In 2006, a controversial deal saw Russo, who was paralyzed in a botched mob hit, paid $2 million in restitution and the four men convicted in the shooting receive lighter sentences.

A source said it was Platinum Sports that coughed up the cash, reportedly paid mostly in $20 bills.

Russo was at the counter of a California Sandwich shop in North York on April 21, 2004, when Antonio Borrelli, a Platinum Sports debt collector, and Paris Christoforou, a full-patch Hells Angel, hopped out of a van and opened fire.

They were attempting to take out Mob member Michele Modica, who owed money to Platinum Sports, but Russo was caught in the line of fire and is forever confined to a wheelchair.

Mark Peretz, who drove the van and was involved in illegal gambling, and Mafia figure Peter Scarcella were also convicted for their roles in the botched hit.

York Regional Police Supt. Paul Pedersen said organized crime groups use illegal gaming to fund their drug and prostitution operations.

And it can be dangerous for gamblers who owe debts to such groups.

These people “are not going to put a lien on your house” when you don’t pay up, Pedersen said, adding Russo’s shooting shows what can happen when an illegal gambling debt collection goes awry.

In Sunday’s raids, police seized $2.5 million as well as 20 computers, which investigators alleged were being used for illegal gaming at the banquet hall.

William “Bill” Miller, 49, Arno Thomsen, 45, and Shlomo Buchler, 40 — all of Toronto; Martin Spruce, 45, of Vaughan; and David Hair, 44, and Andrew Bielli, 48 — both of London, face an assortment of organized crime and gaming related offences. A source said Hair is tied to the Hells Angels London chapter and Miller has served as president of both the club’s London and Toronto North chapters.

The six accused are expected to appear in a Finch Ave. courtroom on March 21.

The allegedly illegal online gaming company behind a Markham Super Bowl party that was raided Sunday forked over $2 million to botched Mob hit victim Louise Russo, a source says.
Six men with suspected ties to Platinum Sports face charges after hundreds of officers swarmed the packed Le Parc Banquet Hall during the first quarter of the big game.
And at least two of the accused are believed to be Hells Angels.